Johnnie Franklin

And what we think about that.

For those of you who aren't members of the illustrious class of 2008, Johnnie Franklin, the governor's advisor on education, told us this weekend that we needed to get over the "poor teacher" mentality because the attitude is the majority of the problem, and, really, if you look at it, we don't get paid that badly after all. And besides, he continued ... NOTHING is as meaningful as the student who came up to him two weeks ago and said "thank you, mr. franklin. You made a difference."

*cough*

His point: Teachers actually get very good pay and good benefits for the job that we do, so we should get over the poor teacher mentality and that would make everything better.

My point: That's a load of crap.

Few comments on that theory...

FIRST:
Nobody gets into teaching for the money. Opportunities for advancement AREN'T all that great, the salary isn't outstanding for the man hours worked, and the entry-level stress is off the charts. This is common knowledge, and I don't think even Johnnie Franklin would argue with that (although, after forty years in education he's never had a bad day, so ... whatever).

So the problem ISN'T the pay or benefits, we all come into it ALREADY BELIEVIEVING that the most meaningful part of the job is changing lives. NOT feeling sorry for ourselves. Most teachers are here for a reason.

SECOND:
Very few people LEAVE teaching because they aren't getting ENOUGH money. He told us HIMSELF that the top three reasons teachers cite for leaving their jobs are, in order of importance, lack of support from the administration, lack of support from the community, and a sense that the community does not value education.

So the problem STILL isn't the money. We came into for the right reasons, believing that we could change lives, and we got BURNED OUT by a lack of administrative support and probably an overwhelming work load, feeling like all the odds were stacked against us.

THIRD:
The teacher shortage is at least as much about retaining teachers as about getting new ones to come in. If the problem is retaining teachers, you're certainly taking the wrong angle to say the problem is the mentality and if everyone wasn't so unreasonably down on teaching that there would be a lot more teachers. Yes, I'll agree that public opinion is that you don't go into teaching to make the big bucks, but he already told us (the data, in fact, told us) that money's not the big issue here. And, sidenote, let's be honest, guys ... you DON'T go into teaching to make the big bucks!
So, if the problem is about retention, and if teachers don't quit their jobs because of money and if (also according to surveys) paying them more would not be the best way to incite them to stay, then it seems a bit ridiculous to drive this whole point on how much we make versus how much we work. Yes, we work a lot, and yes, plenty of us would be happy to argue that point too because I think few people realize how many man hours do go into doing a decent job at this gig, but THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM. We don't quit because we're underpaid, we don't even quit because we're overworked, WE QUIT BECAUSE WE GET NO SUPPORT. So to turn around and say that you could solve the teacher shortage by advertising what a sweet deal we get financially when THE DATA is right there telling you that the problem IS NOT IS NOT IS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY ... just doesn't make sense.

Good work, Mr. Franklin. And better luck convincing your next crowd.